Highlander serves as a catalyst for grassroots organizing and movement building in Appalachia and the South. We work with people fighting for justice, equality and sustainability, supporting their efforts to take collective action to shape their own destiny. Through popular education, participatory research, and cultural work, we help create spaces - at Highlander and in local communities - where people gain knowledge, hope and courage, expanding their ideas of what is possible. We develop leadership and help create and support strong, democratic organizations that work for justice, equality and sustainability in their own communities and that join with others to build broad movements for social, economic and restorative environmental change.
Unearthing Seeds of Fire is a thorough historical account of Highlander Folk School and the life of its founder Myles Horton. For any involved in adult education, as well as those interested in education through social movement, this book provides rich descriptions of the ideology, context, and philosophy of creating learning communities through collectivism. Frank Adams is particularly successful at painting a vivid picture of the sociopolitical atmosphere under which Horton created Highlander, describing the successes and failures that were realized over the years, as well as the organic evolution of the school as it responded to the changing needs of its students.
